AIDS is a serious threat to humanity. It has killed millions of people and continues to do so. AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV attacks the body’s immune system, making the person infected susceptible to other infections and illnesses, which can lead to AIDS. AIDS is a global pandemic, and there is no cure for it. However, there are treatments available that can prolong a person’s life.
AIDS is most commonly transmitted through sexual contact or sharing needles with someone who is infected with HIV. People with AIDS often experience a wide range of symptoms that can make everyday activities very difficult. AIDS can also lead to death.
There is no one definitive way to prevent AIDS. However, there are many things that people can do to reduce their risk of becoming infected with HIV, such as using condoms during sex and avoiding sharing needles.
AIDS is a serious global problem, but it is one that we can all help to fight by increasing our understanding of the disease and how it is transmitted. We can also support those who are living with AIDS, and work towards finding a cure for this devastating disease.
At the turn of the century, many people, including the United States Patent Office, thought there was nothing else to discover. The ancient Egyptian philosopher is more essential today than ever before: “there is nothing new under the sun.” While HIV/AIDS may be a new illness, there’s nothing new about a novel epidemic that could or does effectively kill a population.
AIDS is the new Black Death. Just as AIDS has been called the “great equalizer”, in that it does not discriminate based on social status, race, or gender, the Black Death of the 14th century was also an equalizer. The rich and poor, young and old, all died in great numbers. The only difference between the two epidemics is that AIDS has no cure, while the Black Death eventually ran its course.
The AIDS epidemic began in 1981 with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reporting five cases of pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) among homosexual men in Los Angeles. By December of that year, 26 cases of AIDS had been reported to the CDC with 19 fatalities. AIDS was initially thought to be a rare cancer or “gay cancer” because the majority of early cases were found in homosexual men.
In 1983, AIDS was officially recognized as a new disease by the CDC. The first reported cases of AIDS were found in five young, previously healthy men who had contracted Kaposi’s Sarcoma, a rare form of cancer that primarily affects elderly men of Mediterranean descent. AIDS was also found to cause opportunistic infections, which are usually seen only in people with weakened immune systems, such as cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.
By 1984, AIDS had spread to heterosexuals and intravenous drug users, and it was clear that this was not just a “gay disease”. It soon became apparent that AIDS was caused by a new virus, which was later named human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
HIV attacks the body’s immune system, making the person infected susceptible to other infections and illnesses, which can lead to AIDS. AIDS is the most advanced stage of HIV infection, and is characterized by a weakened immune system and the development of certain opportunistic infections or cancers. People with AIDS typically have a life expectancy of just three to five years without treatment.
There is no cure for AIDS, but there are treatments available that can prolong a person’s life. The most common and effective treatment is antiretroviral therapy (ART), which is a combination of different drugs that work to keep the HIV virus from replicating.
While AIDS is not currently curable, it is preventable. The most effective way to prevent AIDS is to avoid exposure to HIV. This can be done by abstaining from sexual activity, using condoms during sex, or avoiding sharing needles if you are injecting drugs.
It is estimated that 36.7 million people worldwide are living with HIV/AIDS, and that AIDS has killed more than 35 million people since it was first recognized in 1981. In the United States, there are an estimated 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS, and about 16% of them don’t even know they have it. AIDS isn’t just a problem for developing countries; it’s a global epidemic that requires a global solution.
The Black ( Bubonic Plague), which had a black, bubo-like swelling in the armpit, swept across Europe during the late Middle Ages, killing almost half of the population. It was carried to Italy aboard a trading vessel from what is now Turkey by one or a few rats. Smallpox infection spread rapidly among Native Americans due on shipments from the Hudson Bay Company. Not to mention NASA’s phobia of an extraterrestrial super virus that could be unbeatable.
AIDS is different. AIDS was created in a laboratory by humans with the intent to harm. The first cases of AIDS were reported in 1981, but the disease had been silently spreading for years before that. The earliest known case of AIDS dates back to 1959 in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. A man named Yambuku Mbala was admitted to a mission hospital with what was thought to be malaria.
He was treated with injections of chloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, and sent home. But his condition worsened and he was readmitted to the hospital where he died a few weeks later. An autopsy showed that he had not died from malaria, but from something else.
In the early 1980s, AIDS began appearing in gay men in the United States. At first, it was thought to be a new strain of cancer or pneumonia because it primarily affected young, otherwise healthy men. But AIDS was different from anything doctors had seen before. It didn’t respond to antibiotics or traditional treatments. And it was quickly spreading through the population via sexual contact.
The cause of AIDS was a mystery for many years. But eventually, scientists discovered that AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV attacks the body’s immune system, making the person infected susceptible to other infections and diseases, which can lead to AIDS.
